The PSP Go Is Expensive Because It Needs to Be

The PlayStation Portable is a pretty successful video game console as it has managed to move over 50 million units worldwide ever since it was released. Sadly this didn't really equal big sales for video games made for the device and slowly developers began to distance themselves from the platform.

Now though, with the upcoming PSP Go console being scheduled for launch this fall, promising to bring with it a viable digital download solution in order to replace the old UMD discs with a more profitable solution, especially for smaller developers, things might change.

The only fault in Sony's plan, as highlighted by Wedbush Morgan Securities' analyst Michael Pachter, is the price, which will be $249, the same as a Nintendo Wii and much higher than an Xbox 360 home console. But the big price is due to the fact that a premium quality needs to be associated with the product, at least according to the president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Andrew House.

“When you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account. As with all hardware launches you look at the business model, the cost structure, and the necessary level of profitability, and you use that to set the wholesale price. Much as we do with any other hardware.”

So basically, the PSP Go is expensive because it needs to be expensive. Also, the fact that its predecessor, the normal PSP, hasn't sold a lot of video games, as it could have, money needs to be extracted from another source in order to achieve the dream of Kaz Hirai, the president of Sony's PlayStation division, which is to break even in order to help the Japanese corporation.